Copying machine for engraving jewelry rings



July 3l, 95l c. G. c;RuE'rrr\1ERv E-r Al. 2,562,269

COPYING MACHINE FOR ENGRAVING JEWELRY RINGS 2 Sheets--Sheel'l l FiledMay '7, 1947 a ge,

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July 31, 1951 G. G. GRUETTNER lawn. 2,562,269

COPYING MACHINE FOR ENGRAVING JEWELRY RINGS Filed May '7, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet 2 l'lllllllllIlIIIlIllIlIIlllIlllkllllllllllllllll PatentedJuly 31, '1951 COPYING MACHINE FOR ENGRAVING JEWELRY RINGS GerhardGustav Gruettner and Rudy Charles Stiefel, New York, N. Y., assignors,by mesne assignments, to lNew Hermes Ring Engraving Corp., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application May 7, 1947, serial No.746,508

:The object of our invention is a copying machine for engravingletters,'etc, into the inside of jewelry rings, such machine using auniversally movable pantograph lever which carries a tracer ior thepattern at or near one end and an engraving tool near the other end.

The workpiece, i. e. the ring, is held in a rotatable chuck.

Means are provided for causing a relative motion of approach and removalbetween said tool and said chuck to cause o-r interrupt engagement ofsaid tool and said ring.

Means are also provided for indexing said chuck to secure the desiredspacing between individual letters.

It is an object of our invention to construct such a machine in such away that it can be reliably operated by unskilled workers.

With this aim in View it is particularly an object of our invention tomake provisions for automatically actuating said indexing means duringactuation of said relative motion means. Thus a reliableautomatic letterspacing is secured and spoiling of workpieces by careless or unskilledworkers is avoided.

Other features and advantages of our invention will become apparent fromthe following specification in connection with the accompanying drawingsshowing a preferred embodiment of our invention by way of example.

In the drawings is:

Figure 1 a iront View of the machine with parts broken away to showdetails;

Figure 2 a side view of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a perspective View of part of the machine on a larger scaleat the end of the letter spacing operation;

Figure 4 a front elevation of the chuck and indexing means at thebeginning rof the letter spacing operation;

Figure' 5 a side view of part of the drive for the chuck means shown inFigure 4; y

Figure 6 a side view of the chuck means shown in Figure 4, the indexingmeans being omitted;

Figure '7 a front view of the drive for the chuck jaws, one jaw onlybeing shown;

Figure 8 a section of the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

In the upright frame or stand I the panto-l graph lever 2 is mounted foruniversal swinging motion by means of the axles 3 and 4 at right anglesto one another.

7 Claims. (Cl. 33-24) This lever hasv substantially the form of theletter` E', having on its body an upper substantially horizontal arm 5lreceiving said axles, therebeneath a second arm E carryingthe'engraving tool 1 and, on the lower end, a third arm 3 carrying thetracer or stylus 9.

The point of the tool 1, which is not rotated for cutting but acts as anengraving needle, has the known form of a pyramid with three or moresides thus presenting cutting breasts all around to the workpiece.

The tracer 9 is slightly movable vertically in the arm 8 for permittingengagement-of the tracer with and disengagement from the pattern letterI 0 of the alphabet out o-r engraved into Y the pattern carrier II.

The workpiece, i. e. the ring I2 is held clamped by chuck means, to bedescribed later more detailedly, on a plate or side I3 slidablevertically in guide grooves I4 of the frame I.

Here it is sulcient to say that the ring is held by three chuck jaws I5.

For moving the slide I3 up and down a con.- trol lever I 6 provided witha handleor nger piece II is swingable with its axle or shaft I8 which ismounted in the frame I. The lever .I6 is a bell crank lever having alateral arm I9. Through this arm extends a reduced end part 20 of aconnecting rod or pitman 2l. Between a shoulder 22 of the pitman and thearm I9 a coil spring or compression spring 23 is interposed so as toapply resilient pressure to the work to be engraved.

The upper end of the pitman 2| engages a pin 24 on the outer end yof anelbow lever consisting of the arms 25 and 26 and swingable on the pivot21 on the slide I3.

The jaws I5 arel mounted on slides 28 slidable in radial slots 29 of aratchet wheel 30. Each slide 28 has a pin 3| directed into slidingengagement with a spiral groove 32 cut into a gear wheel 33.

Gear wheel 33 is rotatable relatively to the ratchet-wheel by means of aknob 34 and intermediate gear wheel 35 meshing with said gear wheel 33.

Clockwise movement of gear wheel 33 moves the jaws inward along theratchet-wheel 30 to clamp the ring I2.

The ratchet-wheel 30 with the chuck comprisingthe jaws I5 and assemblytherefor and ring I2 indexible. for letter spacing, ,by means,

of a pawl 3B swingable on a pivot 3l of the lever arm 26 and urged by aspring (not shown) to engagement with the ratchet.

The idle counter-clockwise stroke of the pawl 36 is limited by one ofthree stepped shoulders 38, 39, 4B of an abutment lever 4I adjustablearound a pivot d2 on the slide I3 for predetermining the amount-ofletter` spacing. The lever 4I is adjusted by means of knob 43 (Figure 3)and is held in adjusted position by a spring pawl 44 engaging into teeth45 of the lever 4l. As shown in Figures 3 and 4 the shoulder 4l] for thelargest letter spacing is active. s

Upon depression of the handle I'I andv lever IB by the left hand of theoperator pitman 2| rises and turns elbow lever 25, -26 clockwise.

Thereby the ratchet wheel-3U -with'the ring I2 are indexed an amountcorresponding to the desired letter spacing.

A spring pawl 6 prevents backward rotation of the ratchet-wheel 39.

A stationary stop 4l on the slide I3 arrests the clockwise movement,` ofthe pawl 35 and presses the pa-wl firmly into the teeth of the ratchet.Hence continued depression of the handle Il lifts the slide I3 bodilyrelatively to guides I4 and presses the inside of the ring I2 carriedbythe jaws I5 against the point of the tool 1 carried by the arm 6.

The operator then grasps with his right hand the knob 48 of the tracerand traces the desired pattern letter.

This letter is engraved on a reduced scale into the ring I2 by the tooll.

The pattern carrier IIv is a disk indexible around a stationary pivot 49and provided with a detent notch 5l! opposite each letter of thealphabet. A slidable lock 5I (Figure 3) is provided for locking thepattern carrier II in the indexed position for the letter to be engravedand has a slot 5I() by means of which'it is guided on a stationary pin5I I. yA coil spring 52 pulls the pointed end 53 of the lock 5lintoengagement with the detent notch 5t at the selected position of thepattern carrier II thus holding the latter locked during engraving.-When, however, the lever I and shaft I3 swing back counterclockwise asviewed in Figure 3 a pin 54 of the shaft IB strikes a nose 55 of thelock 5I and withdraws the point 53 from the notch 55. In this conditionthe disk EI can be freely rotated for indexing to the desired letter.

From the above it will be seen that the lever I6 has three importantfunctions viz.:

1. Indexing the ring for letter spacing; A

2. Moving the ring into engagement with the tool; y

3. Controlling the locking of the pattern carrier.

As shown in Figure Il at least one of the jaws I5 has at least two ofitssides provided with differently shaped recesses or faces. One side, e.g., has a flat face 55', the next side has a slightly curved, concaverecess 55, the next has an angular recess 5'I, and the next a curvedrecess 58 of a smaller radius than the other curved recess. The jaws canbe turned around pivots 59 for bringing any of these sides inwards toface the ring I2, thus making possible the firm clamping of rings ofmany different regular and irregular sizes and shapes.

What we claim is:

1. A copying engraving machine for jewelry rings comprising, incombination, a frame, al

pantograph lever mounted universally-movable on said frame, a tracertool holder mounted on said lever near the free end thereof, anengraving tool holder mounted on said lever near the other end thereof,a pattern carrier located near said tracer, a ring holding chuck mountedon said frame, means for peripherally indexing said chuck, means forcausing a relative motion of approach and removal between said tool and`said chuck, andsingle control means for actuating said iirst mentionedmeans and said second mentioned means successively.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the pattern carrier isindexible, a lock is provided for locking said carrier in its indexedposition, and said control means is a control lever mounted on saidframe which is combined with means for controlling in addition to saidmeans for relative motion and said indexing means of the chuck, atilting member for the operation of said lock.

3. A machine as claimed in claim l in which said chuck has jaws at leastone of which is rotatably adjustable around an axis parallel to the axisof the chuck and has at least two diierently radially dimensioned sidesfor accommodat-A ing differently shaped rings by rotationallypositioning at least one of said jaws.

d. A copying engraving machine for engraving rings comprising, incombination, a standard, a base for said standard, a pendulum leverhaving a universal pivotal support extending from the upper portion ofsaid standard to adjacent the base, an arm for holding an engraving tooladjacent the upper support for said lever, means for holding a tracingtool adjacent the lower end cf said lever for tracing from the patternsupported adjacent the base whereby a magnied, movement of the tracingarm will move the engraving tool within limits of the ring to beengraved, a slide on said standard slidable vertically of the standard,a chuck rotatably mounted on said slide, indexing means for said chuck,a connector link for said slide to move said chuck and engraving toolrelative to each other and a single control lever for operating saidslide and indexing means for said chuck.

5. A copying engraving machine for engraving rings comprising, incombination, a standard, a

. jacent the upper support for said lever, means chuck being mounted onsaid ratchet wheel for for holding a tracing tool adjacent the lower endof said lever for tracing from the pattern supported adjacent the basewhereby a magnified movement of the tracing arm wil1 move the engravingtool within limits of the ring to be engraved, a slide on said standardslidable vertically of the standard, a chuck on said slide, indexingmeans for said chuck, a connector link for said slide to move said chuckand engraving tool relatively to each other and a single control leverfor operating said slide and indexing means for said chuck, a patterncarrier on said base, detent means for said pattern carrier and detentcontrol means operable by said single means.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which a slide is slidably mountedon said frame, a ratchet wheel is rotatably mounted on said slide, saidmovement therewith, in which a pawl is mounted on said slide inperipheral engagement with said ratchet wheel, and in which said controlmeansy includes a control lever mounted on the frame and having aconnection to said pawl, said pawl being adapted to index said ratchetwheel during the first part of the movement of said conu trol lever, anda stop is mounted on said slide and adapted to arrest the indexingmovement of said pawl and to press the latter firmly against saidratchet Wheel and thereby cause said relative motion by the second partof said movement.

'7. A copying engraving machine for engraving on the interior surface ofrings comprising, in combination, a frame, a pendulum lever having auniversal pivotal support thereon, an arm for holding an engraving tooland an arm for tracing, each of which arms is mounted on said leverwhereby a movement of the tracing arm will move the arm for theengraving tool within limits of the ring, a ring holding chuck withinwhich said tool holding arm may be moved, a slide for said chuckslidable on said frame, indexing means for said chuck on said slide, anda single control lever having a connection to said slide to move it toand from the tool holding arm in one range of movement and to index saidchuck in another range of movement.

GERHARD GUSTAV GRUETTNER. RUDY CHARLES STIEFEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

